Trade Union Archives

The special collection on the trade union movement, comprising some 10,000 volumes, includes social science literature as well as union material on organisational history and policy. The collection is developed in cooperation with the Social Sciences Institutes of Leibniz Universität Hannover and the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB).

How can you use items from the Trade Union Archives?

The items can be found an the TIB Sozialwissenschaften (Social Sciences) site under the classification M and can be accessed and ordered via the TIB portal.

One part of the collection, the Trade Union Archives comprising some 6,500 volumes, includes a virtually complete collection of the reports, minutes, series of publications, journals and press reports of trade unions in the Federal Republic of Germany. Special documentation materials are available on the establishment of trade unions in Lower Saxony from 1945 to 1948 and in Saxony-Anhalt from 1989 to 1994.

Documentation on the development of union and company representatives in the new eastern states of Germany (1989-1994)

This development process took place in the area of conflict between different trade union, economic and social interest groups whose positions on the constitution of trade unions and works and staff councils are documented. The involvement of West German trade unions is particularly documented using the example of the Lower Saxony/Bremen DGB district, which was responsible for trade union development in the new Federal State of Saxony-Anhalt. In addition, interest groups were developed in parallel to a radical economic and socio-political structural change in the context of the establishment of German unity. Trade union policy focusing on this process is also documented in detail. Light is shed on the reform process within unions taking the example of trade union conduct towards three socio-economic fringe groups - women, foreigners and the unemployed.

The relevant literature is listed in the Trade Union and German Unity database. A collection of internal materials (including interviews) on the trade union development process, particularly in Saxony-Anhalt, can be viewed on site in the context of scientific interest.